Artistic Gymnast Dipa Karmakar Becomes First Indian to Qualify For Apparatus Finals

India’s Dipa Karmakar created history on Monday by becoming the first Indian to enter vault finals in artistic gymnastics. By performing ‘Produnova’ vault in a clean and appreciated way, she secured 14.850 points to qualify for the finals. She made her debut on Sunday night.

Tripura-based gymnast Karmakar made to top 8th position by the end of the last subdivision which is 5th. She was in 6th place by third subdivision, but strong performer from Canada has made her position to slip to 8th. This was just enough to make her place into finals of artistic gymnastics.

The three-time world all round champion Simone Biles topped the list with 16.050 points was followed by North Korea’s Jong Un Hong with 15.683. Switzerland’s Giulia Steingruber secured the third place with 15.266 points.

Dipa secured 7.000 on difficulty and 8.1 on execution in her first attempt and 6.000 on the difficulty in her second attempt. Whereas Simone Biles scored 9.700 on execution in both her attempts. In the other rounds, Dipa scored decently in execution, which finalised her entry.

Dipa’s scores-

Vaults; 14.850

Uneven bars: 11.60

Beams 12.87

Floor exercises: 12.03

Eight gymnasts with highest individual score will move on to the final which is scheduled to be held on 14th August.

“It did not go as expected,” said Dipa after qualifying for vaults final

“As the Produnova vault was the first thing I attempted today and it did not go as expected, it immediately put me in a bad mood. That I have reached the final is an amazing achievement. My coach is very happy because I executed what he had taught me to do.” said Dipa Karmakar

The nation was waiting to watch her performance live, but as it was not telecasted huge criticism has been seen on the social media. This is what the twettarati had to say about the proud moment. Some of the noted Twitter comments from, Harsha Bhogle, Mandira Bedi, Amitabh Bachan, are here.

T 2341 – #DipaKarmakar .. they said they would show you but never did .. channels interested in the other country athletes ! Good luck